The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
by The Boomerang
Summary: We've got something, to reveal.. no one can know, how we feel. [oneshot. crack pairing. XigbarTidus] For The BirdFox Hybrid Productions


The Lost Art of Keeping A Secret

The Boomerang

Dedicated to The BirdFox Hybrid Productions.. Because they are horrible people and they introduced this pairing to me. It's influenced by the newest chapter of their story _Carmine Complex_. Go and read it.

Disclaimer: Pah. I don't even own the rights to my own ass.

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This was all so wrong. Wrong on levels never touched before. A boy and a man. One barely past sixteen, the other in his mid-twenties. It wasn't right, it was wrong. They couldn't stop what they felt though, this boy and his mentor.

Xigbar lived on the beach his entire life, the coast of California, in a house right on the water. His job was to teach kids of all ages how to surf, how to swim, how to scuba dive, anything that they wanted to learn that could be taught on those waters. He didn't mind children- which was what most of his customers were, other than the occasional teenage girl who wanted to learn in order to impress her boyfriend. Xigbar's male preference was probably his saving grace when it came to the worried mothers who interrorgated him before buying lessons for their daughters. He'd never been in love before, and he never thought he would be, until he met a blonde boy with a laugh sweeter than sea-salt ice cream on the hottest summer's day.

Tidus lived in a family that travelled across the country. His one wish for his sixteenth birthday was to learn how to surf on the waters of California- where it was said that the waves were always perfect to ride on. His friend Demyx, who lived in Florida, always talked about wishing to live there, to see the sights and test the waters. Tidus decided that he would do it for Demyx.

On the summer of his sixteenth birthday, Tidus met Xigbar on the beaches of California. Somehow, between the hot sun and salty air, the caws of gulls and the laughter of children- it was love at first sight.

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"So, you're my new student, eh?" Began Xigbar, placing a single, calloused hand upon his strong chin, golden eyes peering at the blonde boy. Beneath one taut, muscled arm was a black surfboard. He was clad in naut but a pair of swim trunks, feet and chest bare, a large, jagged scar covering the left side of his abdomen. Striking down his right eye was another scar, though it was more attractive than the stripe of damaged skin on his left jaw, that marred his handsome features. His hair was dark, with highlights of gray streaking his long ponytail.

The boy flashed him a brilliant smile, confidence shining from every pore in his body. He wore blue shorts and a white tee, feet clad in matching blue flip-flips. His blonde hair was streaked with blonde, and it hung gently around his grinning face. "Yep. M'name's Tidus." He struck his hand out, and Xigbar took it in his strong grasp, shaking firmly. Xigbar held up the surfboard.

"This'll be your board. I'm teaching you to surf, so we'll start with the basics." And that was how it began. They met every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for lessons. Each time, Xigbar found more and more reasons to correct Tidus's posture, calloused hands gripping a thin arm, hip, or shoulder in an attempt to correct the position. Each lesson, Tidus found some way to fall off his board so that Xigbar's strong arms would pull him from the water and lift him onto the man's dark red surfboard. The weeks passed, and Tidus would plead with his mother each time to continue his lessons until his mother relented, and allowed him to live with a relative while the family continued their travels.

The months passed, each touch lasting longer, each faint carress becoming more intimate, until it happened.

"Tidus, the waves are too big today, people have drowned in those kinds of waters." Xigbar warned, his cell phone held tightly in one hand as he conversed with the blonde-haired boy he'd somehow come to love, though it was an un-requieted love.

Tidus's tinkling laughter came from the other end. "Xigbar, you know that I know how to surf now, I just keep the lessons going so I won't have to leave. I can deal with those waves." As Tidus attempted to reassure his teacher, Xigbar scowled and grabbed his keys from their hook next to the door, slipping his feet into a set of sandals.

"Well at least come down here, you never surf at the place by your aunts, why now?"

"Xigbar, you know I can't get a ride to your place, or else I'd be over there already." More laughter, this time weaker, and less meaningful. "You don't have to be such a mother hen. I'll be alright- I'll call you later, and tell you how it went, alright?"

"Tidus- that's suicide! Just wait until the storm pa--" The dialtone cut him off and Xigbar cursed, opening his garage and sliding into the driver's side of his jeep, jamming the keys into the ignition and starting it up with a roar before squealing out of his garage and down the road. Tidus's aunt lived a good ten minutes away- her home just across the street from a private beach. That was ten minutes that Tidus could fall off his board and be sucked under by the rough current.

When he arrived, Xigbar wrenched his board out from the backseat, kicking his sandals off and leaving his keys in the ignition before shooting off down to the beach. His eyes scoured the waters, the waves that towered before crashing down once more. His heart nearly leapt into his throat when he caught sight of a figure further down the shore, riding the waves almost unsteadily. Holding his board under his arm, Xigbar took off down the beach, sand kicking up under his heels. He was going to pull that stupid brat out of the water if it-

A wave crashed down over Tidus, and his board flew up into the air, body dissapearing into the raging waters.

"Tidus!" Xigbar yelled, running into the shallows and using his surfboard as a float, his tee-shirt clad chest resting upon it as he kicked his legs, propelling him through the water. A blonde head popped up for a moment before it was dragged back under by yet another wave, Tidus's startled cry cutting off and being eaten by the roar of the water. Tidus's hand appeared only feet away from Xigbar seconds later, and his arm stretched out, grasping onto that struggling hand and wrenching Tidus towards him. He pulled the blonde out of the water, and his ears were filled with watery coughs and half-sobs. Xigbar tugged Tidus next to him, allowing the young teen to rest the top half of his body on the board as the waves crashed around them, rocking the two back and forth. Xigbar's free arm looped around Tidus's shoulders, the other holding to his surfboard as he swam them back to shore, the water's movement propelling them.

Once Xigbar could properly stand, he did. He abandoned his board to the harsh waters and lifted Tidus's still hacking body into his arms, cradling that shivering frame against his chest as he struggled back to shore.

Tears were streaming down Tidus's face, sobs escaping those weakly parted lips and trembling hands holding tightly to Xigbar's wet shirt as they reached the shore, rain pattering down harshly upon them. Xigbar didn't speak, but carried Tidus all the way back to his jeep, lifting the blonde boy and placing him in the back seat before he went about putting the roof back on to block out the rain.

He finished, opening the drivers side and starting the car- turning the heat on before he crawled into the back and grabbed Tidus feircly by the biceps. "What were you thinking?" He growled out, golden eyes narrowed in a mixture of passing terror and anger. Tidus looked away, teeth chattering and the occasional sob erupting from his mouth. Xigbar shook him and Tidus still refused to meet his gaze.

"Dammit, Tidus! Did you want to die out there? That was stupid, careless, that was suicide!" The man growled. Tidus's jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth, muttering something under his breath that Xigbar couldn't quite hear.

"Say that again, I can't hear you when you're muttering like a fool." Xigbar said, not intending to sound so harsh. Tidus's face flashed with hurt before his mouth moved again.

"I said, maybe that was the point."

Tidus's head rose to stare into Xigbar's stunned eyes. "What's the point of living, when the person you want to live for and be with- will never feel the same; and even if he did, you couldn't be with him?" Xigbar's heart gave a painful throb and the man swallowed down the lump that had been rising in his throat.

"That ain't no reason to kill yourself, kid. There's plenty of other people out there who'd probably love you just as much." Tidus shook his head, body shivering with the cold that began to sink in, water dripping from his hair.

"I didn't want to die- at first. I just wanted to prove myself... but now I wish that-" Tidus's voice cracked and he turned to look at Xigbar, eyes wide and rimmed with the red of tears. "I wish that you could just love me... if just for a little bit." He whispered. Xigbar's eyes grew wide as Tidus glanced away again and hugged himself. It took a long, painful few seconds before Xigbar was able to overcome his disbelief, and he stretched out a single hand, his large fingers grasping at the wobbling chin before him and forcing Tidus to look at him.

"A few moments is nothing to the months I've been wanting you." He muttered, and this time, it was Tidus's turn to be surprised. "But it can't be, kid. I'd get arrested, you're just sixteen as it is." Xigbar leaned forward, his lips hovering above Tidus's in the faintest of carresses.

"Then pretend I'm not." Tidus leaned those last few centimeters forward, and their lips connected in the softest of kisses.

From that day on, it was a secret from both the public eye and Tidus's family. They never went past kisses and light touches. The only exception had been two months later, on Xigbar's twenty seventh birthday, when Tidus had shown the man just how talented his mouth could be. It was their secret, the one that no one could know. Both of them were happy just knowing that they could be together. And because of that, Xigbar would wait until the day they could finally be free to love eachother, without the worries of lawsuits and accusations. Until that day, however- they were just content with what they had.

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Uhm. Wow. That was long. My toes are cold... and.. I've never been to California- nor do I know how to surf. The title is from a song by Queens of the Stoneage... the band is okay- but this song seemed pretty fitting. ;D

I love The BirdFox Hybrid Productions. Except now my brain has ceased to work properly from overload of the thesaurasus.

Review?


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